Columnists
Why organisations need investors to get passionate about their vision
Thursday February 23 2023
Safaricom PLC CEO Peter Ndegwa. FILE PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NMG
Last week, Safaricom PLC hosted its inaugural hybrid investors day under the theme, “driving purpose-led growth”.
A day fully dedicated to engaging with representatives of our investment community and sharing our vision and management plans with them.
We felt it was important to take them through our plans for the year, given the economic environment the company has been operating in since the Coronavirus pandemic.
Led by our CEO, Peter Ndegwa, we shared our vision and strategic opportunities around key business areas including sustainable business and social impact, financial services, big data, technology, and enterprise business opportunities for both private and public sectors as well as updates on the Safaricom Ethiopia business.
It was satisfactory to see the investors resonating with our plans and vision as a result of a deeper understanding of our business.
In today’s highly competitive business landscape, a compelling business vision and strategy are not enough. You must also be able to articulate that vision and strategy in a way that resonates with key stakeholders, such as investors, analysts and regulators.
Most importantly you must show your stakeholders evidence of clear execution of the strategy.
Having the confidence of these key stakeholders is a critical component for the growth and success of any business.
When investors are confident about a company’s ability to deliver results, they are more likely to invest in your organisation by buying more shares.
Investors are often looking for opportunities that offer strong potential for growth and a clear path to sustainable social and economic gains.
Therefore, by communicating our vision and demonstrating how our business model can achieve sustainable growth, we got a chance to boost investor confidence in our ability to deliver strong returns.
Besides providing an opportunity for high-level peer-to-peer conversations and networking opportunities in a non-commercial environment, investor forums also provide a chance to find out more about the company’s vision, growth prospects and sustainable business practices.
We got the opportunity to demonstrate our strategy for achieving our vision of transforming into a technology-led company by 2025.
Sharing all these insights with the investor community and partners enabled them to understand the potential long-term value of their investments and consequently made them more willing to partner in pursuit of shared goals.
More importantly, we were also able to demonstrate the connection between our vision and our purpose to transform lives by connecting people to people, people to opportunities and people to information through technology.
In the long run, gaining the confidence of investors and forming strategic partnerships helps a business secure solid capital investment and brand recognition, which can lead to increased sales and market share growth.
